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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

450. THE BEAR AND THE CRABS
Perry 550 (Phaedrus App. 22)

Whenever the bear cannot find food in the woods, he runs down to the rocky shore and, grabbing hold of a rock, he gradually lowers his hairy legs into the water. As soon as some crabs have caught hold of his fur, he leaps up onto dry land and shakes off these spoils from the sea. The bear then feasts on the food he has cleverly collected all over his legs.
This shows how hunger can sharpen even the most dull-witted creatures.

Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.